Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work® at DNR

Kids had the chance to meet Smokey Bear at DNR’s Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work® Day event. Photo by: DNR/Jessica Payne

Yesterday the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) celebrated Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work® Day with the children of state employees.

This year, the Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work® Foundation partnered with the National Association of State Foresters to introduce children to careers in forestry. Almost a hundred kids came out to learn about the jobs we do at DNR, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Washington Department of Agriculture.

For half a day, the Natural Resources Building here in Olympia was transformed into an education fair featuring trees, bugs, and geodes. Kids had an opportunity to learn how foresters work in the woods and try to stump the forester with their questions. They got up close with bugs while learning about forest health from one of DNR’s entomologists.

This little girl is proud to show off a sparkly geode at the Washington Geology Library exhibit for the event. Photo by: DNR/Jessica Payne

At the Washington Geology Library, children learned the life-cycle of a rock and identified special rocks, from geodes to the Washington state gem:petrified wood. Many kids put their directional skills to the test by learning to use a compass and trying to complete the orienteering course mapped out by DNR’s recreation staff. They were given a noble fir seedling from DNR’s Webster Nursery and practiced proper planting with the Washington Conservation Corps Urban Forestry team.

These little girls got to get an up close look at the bugs that affect the health of Washington’s trees. Photo by: DNR/Jessica Payne

Participants also learned how Geographic Information System (GIS) specialists make maps and use technology to help DNR teams fight wildland fires.

They also experienced what it’s like to be a DNR firefighter by meeting some of the team, trying on personal protective equipment, and meeting Smokey Bear, who paid a special visit. Even Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark came down to meet the children, thank the volunteers, and snap a quick photo with Smokey.

View photos from the event on our Flickr page here.

DNR is happy to have had the opportunity to recruit our future generations of state land managers. If you are interested in finding out about the several types of careers that DNR has to offer, visit our jobs page and apply to work with DNR today.

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Opportunities to learn about trees, forestry and forest health

Douglas fir killed as a result of beetle attack. Beetle populations increase following fire, blowdown, or harvest as a supply of inner bark becomes more available. Under such circumstances, beetle populations can increase to the point where otherwise healthy trees can be killed. Photo: Robert Van Pelt/DNR.

Do you own forestland? Hope to own a small parcel of it someday? Or just want to learn what goes into owning and caring for a wood lot of your own? DNR and the Washington State University Extension team up next month for a ‘Hands-On Forest Health Workshop’ in Glenwood. The Saturday, May 11, workshop will teach you the indicators of forest health and how to assess your forest’s health risks. You’ll even get out in the woods (rain or shine) for some learning in the field… or woods, to be precise. Course instructors will include entomologists from DNR and WSU, and a DNR forest health specialist. Hurry. These workshops fill up quickly. (Glenwood, Washington is 25 miles northwest of Goldendale, or 32 miles northeast of White Salmon)

Prefer to get your education online? WSU Extension’s ‘Forest Stewardship University’ offers online learning modules designed for forest owners in the Pacific Northwest. The courses are low-cost and you can try out a few free sample modules before purchasing to see if online learning is for you.

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Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark welcomed volunteers from across the state at the 8th Annual Great Gravel Pack-In

Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark greeted and mingled with almost 90 volunteers who braved the rain to shovel gravel, load up pack stock, and hike to the work site. Photo: Diana Lofflin

The 8^th Annual Great Gravel Pack-In, held on Saturday, April 13, in Capitol State Forest, drew a large crowd this year. Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark greeted and mingled with almost 90 volunteers who braved the rain to shovel gravel, load up pack stock, and hike to the work site.

Check out photos from the event!

The event was an opportunity for people with diverse recreation interests, from ATV-riders to horseback riders, to come together to clean up the trails. This year, the focus was on the new Equine Loop Trail, much to the delight of the 28 mules and horses who came out to ‘volunteer’.

In the true spirit of volunteering, the motorized community helped spread rock on non-motorized trails. These folks were a big help in moving some of the 32 yards of gravel with just 12 quads and trailers.

Curious about the numbers? Check out the breakdown below:

• 1 Commissioner of Public Lands
• 89 volunteers
• 28 mules and horses
• 12 quads and trailers
• 32 yards of gravel total (7 yards moved by horses; 25 yards moved by quads)
  

  In the true spirit of volunteering, Washington ATV Association helped spread rock on non-motorized trails.  Photo: Diana Lofflin

DNR would like to thank all the volunteers and the following groups for their contributions:

• Backcountry Horsemen of Washington (BCHW) helped sponsor the event.
• Pierce County Chapter BCHW assisted by cooking food for hungry volunteers.
• Washington ATV Association co-sponsored the event and brought members out to work on non-motorized trails.
• Friends of Capitol Forest donated equipment and tents to help out the volunteers.
• House Brother’s Construction contributed by donating the outhouses on the trail.
• Northwest Epic Series ‘fueled’ the day with a hot breakfast for everyone.
  

  Ed Haefliger, one of the founders of the of the Great Gravel Pack-In announces the tasks to the equestrian group. Photo: Diana Lofflin

Finally, special thanks to Ed Haefliger, one of the founders of the event. After eight years, he has decided to move into a supportive role so he can have more time to work on his other projects. He also turned 70 years old this year, and volunteers celebrated with a cake during the lunch.

Inspired to volunteer? Check out DNR’s volunteer calendar and invite your friends!

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Finding sweetness among the trees: Cambium can provide a spring treat

A stand of lodgepole pine. Photo: Dave Powell/US Forest Service/Bugwood.org

Imagine a time in the Pacific Northwest before the fur traders first offered those dry, hard, brown cones of sugar as part of their trade goods. European honeybees had not yet made their way westward after introduction decades earlier in the colonies. Sweetness would have been available from dried berries and roasted roots, but by this time of year, supplies were probably carefully rationed. For a more concentrated shot of springtime sugars, the cambium of lodgepole pines was almost universally treasured throughout our area. It still makes a fun treat to try, especially if you have some lodgepole pine on your property in need of thinning where removing the bark from a few trees will speed the process along.

(Warning: Harvesting cambium will scar the trunk of your tree. Since cambium is a living layer just under the bark, taking large amounts exposes this living layer and may leave the tree vulnerable to weather and disease. And please don’t harvest from pine trees on tribal or public lands, such as state trust lands, or from trees on private property without permission.)

Here’s how to harvest cambium 

DNR’s fish barrier removal program

A contractor installs a 22-foot-span bottomless arch culvert over Miller Creek near Hoodsport. It replaces a 12-foot-wide culvert that blocked fish passage to habitat in the creek’s upper reaches. Photo: Jason Mettler/DNR.

Lack of access to good quality stream habitat has contributed to declines of salmon and trout populations in Washington State. In 2012, DNR removed 134 fish barriers from forest streams on state trust lands, opening an estimated 67 miles of stream to salmon and other fish. Since 2000, DNR has removed 1,184 fish barrier culverts associated with streams on state trust lands. Sometimes, they are replaced by bridges, but other fish-friendly structures include bottomless arch culverts.  

The department’s ongoing project has opened nearly 600 miles of stream for fish habitat. About 276 fish barrier culverts under forest roads on state trust lands remain for DNR to remove by October 31, 2016, when the state’s Forest and Fish Law requires landowners to complete improvements.

Many private forestland owners also are affected by the deadline. Because removing these blockages — usually culverts — and installing more fish-friendly structures isn’t cheap, DNR offers small forest landowners help to replace those barrier culverts. Since 2003, nearly 200 small forest landowners have taken advantage of funding from the legislatively funded Family Forest Fish Passage Program to replace 232 barriers and open more than 485 miles of stream for salmon and trout. But many have yet to apply for the state program—Family Forest Fish Passage Program—which pays nearly all of the costs for landowners

Watch a video about the Family Forest Fish Passage Program and learn how just applying to the program can help small forest landowners deal with regulatory burdens around the culvert removal requirements. The program is administered by DNR’s Small Forest Landowner Office.

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DNR weekend reading: The sand dune filtration system for polluted runoff water

The Fuzzy Top Trail takes hikers into the finest stand of old-growth trees in Capitol State Forest near Olympia, WA . Photo: Jessica Payne/DNR.

Here are links to articles about natural resources, climate, energy and other topics  published recently by universities, scientific journals, organizations, and other sources:

North Carolina State University: Researchers Devise Hidden Dune Filters To Treat Coastal Stormwater Runoff

When it rains, untreated stormwater can sweep pollutants into coastal waters, potentially endangering public health. Now researchers from North Carolina State University have developed low-cost filtration systems that are concealed beneath sand dunes and filter out most of the bacteria that can lead to beach closures.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography: Scripps Scientists Discover ‘Lubricant’ for Earth’s Tectonic Plates

Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have found a layer of liquefied molten rock in Earth’s mantle that may be acting as a lubricant for the sliding motions of the planet’s massive tectonic plates. The discovery may carry far-reaching implications, from solving basic geological functions of the planet to a better understanding of volcanism and earthquakes.

Daily Bulldog: UMF’s biggest geothermal project set to begin May 19
Some 80 geothermal wells will be dug in the heart of the University of Maine at Farmington campus starting this May. The $1.55 million project, which is expected to save upwards of 30,000 gallons of fuel oil each year, is part of the university’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2035.

Science Daily: Suggestions for a Middle Ground Between Unlogged Forest and Intensively Managed Lands

In the world’s forested regions, two management systems — retention forestry and agroforestry — are being used to alleviate conflicts between preserving biodiversity and addressing human needs in production landscapes. A new article draws a parallel between the ecological effects of the two systems.

Scientific American: Noisy Ships Creep Out Crabs (Podcast)

The cacophony of ships at sea is stressing shore crabs and could be bothering other marine life.

DNR weekend reading: Moderate amounts of slash favor Douglas-fir growth

The estuary where Stavis Creek flows into Hood Canal. DNR is restoring wetlands at Stavis Creek Natural Resources Conservation Area. Photo: DNR

Here are links to articles about natural resources, climate, energy and other topics  published recently by universities, scientific journals, organizations, and other sources:

US Forest Service–Pacific Northwest Research Station: Logging Debris Gives Newly Planted Douglas-Fir Forests a Leg-Up
A new study led by the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station found that retaining moderate levels of logging debris, also known as “slash,” helped to both directly and indirectly increase the growth rate of Douglas-fir seedlings replanted after harvest. The findings, which are among the first to speak to the benefits of second-growth logging debris, are published online in the journal Forest Ecology and Management.

University of California-Davis: UC Davis researchers uncover earliest tobacco use in the Pacific Northwest
Native American hunter-gatherers living more than a thousand years ago in what is now northwestern California ate salmon, acorns and other foods, and now we know they also smoked tobacco — the earliest known usage in the Pacific Northwest, according to a new University of California, Davis, study.

Science DailyAmplified Greenhouse Effect Shaping North Into South
A comprehensive analysis of ground and satellite-based data by a team of scientists found that vegetation is growing more vigorously and spreading north. The study, published in the journal <em)Nature Climate Change, said that since the early 1980s, tall shrubs , trees and other vegetation once found at 57 degrees north  is spreading into former regions of tundra as far as 64 degrees north. The paper suggests that by the end of this century rising temperatures could lead to northward shifts of vegetation of more than 20 degrees latitude compared with the period 1951 to 1980.

Rice UniversityGround-level ozone falling faster than model predicted; pollution controls may be working better than anticipated

There is good news and better news about ground-level ozone in American cities. While dangerous ozone levels have fallen in places that clamp down on emissions from vehicles and industry, a new study from Rice University suggests that a model widely used to predict the impact of remediation efforts has been too conservative.

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DNR has history to celebrate this President’s Day

DNR Forester Jesse Steele with old growth Douglas-fir estimated to be 250-300 years old. Photo by: DNR

This Douglas-fir has seen a lot in its lifetime. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conducted an old growth assessment on it and concluded it was between 250 – 300 years old.

We celebrate our country’s history of presidents today on the birthday of our first leader; United States President George Washington. When George Washington was born 281 years ago, this tree may have been already standing in the forests we see today.

Can you imagine what changes have taken place since this tree was a seedling over 250 years ago?

250 years ago - When this tree was young, Benjamin Franklin was conducting his kite experiment to uncover the complexities of lightning and electricity.

224 years ago - By the time George Washington was elected president in 1789, this tree was already as old as most of the ones you see in our forests today.

202 – 206 years ago – When Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, Washington State was already rapidly undergoing many of the changes that would shape it into the community we know today. Just four years before Lincoln’s birth the Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the area that is now Washington State. Two years after Lincoln was born David Thompson sailed down and completing the first formal mapping of the Columbia River.

163 years ago – Just 11 years before Lincoln was elected president in 1861, the area that is now Washington State had its first census conducted counting a population of 1,201. The population increase 865.4% in the next ten years.

124 years ago – The State of Washington was admitted to the Union on November 11, 1889. That year the U.S. government endowed the state with 3.2 million acres of trust land.

56 years ago – The Washington State Department of Natural Resources was established in 1957; just over 150 years after our first president began his term in office; by combining seven agencies and boards, including the Commissioner of Public Lands who administers the state trust lands, and the Division of Forestry, and the State Forester.

Over the next years, DNR was very busy transitioning the management of Washington’s resources.

48 years ago - The first formal DNR recreation sites were created in 1965.

42 – 43 years ago – In 1971, Washington State legislature stopped the sales of state tidelands and shorelands, and the State Environmental Policy Act was established. The next year, DNR was selected to manage our Natural Area Preserves and the first Natural Resource Conservation Areas were established.

DNR Forester Florian Deisenhofer with an old growth Douglas-fir estimated to be over 400 years old. Photo by DNR/Dan Friesz

Today, DNR manages 5.6 million acres of land. That’s over 3 million acres of state trust lands, 2.6 million acres of aquatic lands, and 145,000 acres of natural areas. We maintain 54 Natural Area Preserves, 30 Natural Resource Conservation Areas, and 143 recreation sites. DNR also protects 12.7 million acres of forest from wildfire.

Washington State has come a long way since the days of those first presidents. We can celebrate history and the accomplishments of our country and state today while remembering these majestic old growth trees that have seen it all.

Happy President’s Day!

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DNR weekend reading: Ancient landslides can help guide modern-day salmon restoration

Chopaka Lake Campground and day-use picnic area managed by DNR offer majestic North Cascades scenery. Nearby are Loomis State Forest (also managed by DNR) and the federal Chopaka Mountain Wilderness Study Area. Photo: DNR

Here are links to reading selections about climate, wildlife, the environment and other science news published recently by science journals, universities, websites, and other sources:

University of Oregon: Large, ancient landslides delivered preferred upstream habitats for coho salmon
A study of the Umpqua River basin in the Oregon Coast Range helps explain natural processes behind the width of valleys and provides potentially useful details for river restoration efforts designed to improve habitats for coho salmon.

NOAA Response and Restoration Blog: Where Are the Pacific Garbage Patches Located?
The Pacific Ocean holds more than half of the planet’s free water, but it also holds a lot of the planet’s garbage (much of it plastic). That trash is not spread evenly across the Pacific Ocean; a great deal of it ends up suspended in large “garbage patches.”

University of Hawaii, Manoa: New research shows complexity of global warming
Global warming from greenhouse gases affects rainfall patterns in the world differently than does solar heating, according to a study published in Nature. Global rainfall has increased less over the present-day warming period than it did during the Medieval Warm Period, even though temperatures are higher today than back then.

Scientific American: Where Few Trees Have Gone Before
With a warming climate, snow has begun melting earlier and growing seasons have lengthened, giving trees a boost at higher elevation. As a result, tree occupation of mountain meadows rose from 8 percent in 1950 to 35 percent in 2008, reports a U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service–funded study published last October in Landscape Ecology.

Science Daily: Flood Research Shows Human Habits Die Hard: Few Make Plans to Cut Vulnerability
Research findings from Australia indicate that while households can minimize damage from floods, most people — even those recently affected by major flooding — do not  intend to make changes to reduce their vulnerability to future floods.

 

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Our top five posts in January

Here are the five blogs posted in January that drew the most views by Ear to the Ground readers.

Volunteers step up to remodel DNR winter cabin in time for snowmobile season
Using a generous grant from the Washington State Snowmobile Association the Butte Busters Snowmobile Club and Association of Okanogan County Snowmobile Club led the way in a major remodel and update of the Hunters Meadow Cabin in Loomis State Forest in time for snowmobile and hunting seasons… more

‘Twas 313 years ago that the Northwest really, really shook; mega earthquake & tsunami hit on Jan. 26, 1700
And we mean: really shook. An estimated) magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake in 1700 on the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the coastlines of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, and British Columbia produced a tsunami that is noted in 18th century Japanese documents… more

DNR will hire seasonal wildland firefighters. Apply online
DNR’s recruitment for Forest Fire Fighter Crew members and Engine Leaders/Squad Boss positions for the 2013 summer season was a popular blog post. Visit the DNR Jobs Page where you can sign up for weekly emails of new job announcements… more

Goldmark keys in on forest health and climate change; begins second term as Commissioner of Public Lands
The complete Inaugural Remarks of Peter Goldmark as presented DNR staff on Wednesday, January 16, 2013, as Goldmark begins his second term as state Commissioner of Public Lands… more

Award honors two of DNR’s finest forest health program employees
The U.S. Forest Service honored DNR employees Aleksandar Dozic, forestry technician, and Glenn Kohler, forest entomologist, with its Regional Forester’s 2012 Team Award for Excellence in Safety and Health for their innovations that reduced flight time required for forest health aerial surveys… more

 

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